The exhibition Infamous highlights the racist history of the United States. In 2019, the artist Andres Serrano discovered that items normalising blackface culture were living a life of their own on eBay. He began buying and photographing such racist artifacts. He uses these works to confront his country’s history, reminding us of how racism both has and continues to manifest itself in various forms.
– History has proven that the past never remains in the past. There will always be groups of people who are marginalised and made scapegoats for all that is bad. To become more aware as a nation, we must once and for all look back and learn from the past,” says Andres Serrano
Infamous is a portrait of racism and a peephole to a past that white people would prefer to forget.
– The shameful history of racism that Serrano presents in his works can lead to difficult but also productive and important conversations about how we can move forward in the issues he raises,” says Jessica Jarl, Exhibition Producer Fotografiska Stockholm.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Andres Serrano (b. 1950) is a provocative American artist who is not afraid to turn his hand to subjects that bring others to their knees. Although he often works with subjects considered taboo, he always approaches them with the utmost respect. One of his most famous works is the controversial Piss Christ, a photograph of a crucifix immersed in the artist’s urine. His other well-known works include Blood and Semen III and Piss and Blood, which have even adorned Metallica album covers. His last exhibition at Fotografiska Stockholm was in 2015. Serrano also recently released his debut film, Insurrection, which premiered on 6 January 2022, exactly one year on from the storming of the Capitol in Washington DC. The film includes historical material as well as clips published on social media during the actual storming. “I don’t want to brag, but I think this is one of the most violent and controversial films ever made,” says Serrano. The film is produced by a/political.
